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After paint-grade trim is nailed in place, the
nail holes and gaps need to be filled. If the trim was primed and
painted before installation (which is my preferred method),
then a final coat of paint can be applied and the trim job
is complete.

When pre-painted trim is used, it's often not necessary to
mask off the adjacent areas, which means this last coat of paint can
be applied with minimal time and effort.

There are many wood filler products available.
These are two that I have used recently.

On
this job, I used the tube of Zar latex wood
patch because it was easier to apply.

Filling Holes With Wood Putty:

Before using the tube of wood putty, I
squeezed and kneaded the tube to make sure the material was
thoroughly mixed.

I just placed
the tube tip over the nail hole and squeezed the
putty out. This seems to do a good job of
filling the void.

Then I wiped off the excess putty with a small
putty knife.

On the
contoured portion of the scarf joints, I
squeezed out some putty along the gap and wiped
off the excess with my finger.

It's tempting avoid the need for
sanding by wiping out the excess with a damp paper towel,
but that method "scoops out" much of the putty from the
hole. Then the holes will certainly need to be filled a
second time.

Most of my mitered outside corners had small
gaps.

I used my finger to force the putty into
the gaps, then I wiped off the excess with a
paper towel.

When all the nail holes and outside corners
were filled with putty, I allowed the putty to dry for a couple of
hours before sanding down the excess material.

Caulking Gaps:

There are two
types of gaps that I fill will caulk instead of
wood putty:

1) Gaps between the top of the
baseboard and the wall, and...

2) Gaps at coped inside
corner joints.

I cut a very small opening in the tip of a new
tube of siliconized acrylic latex caulk.

Then
I ran a small bead of caulk along the gap at the
top of the baseboard.

I wiped off
some excess caulk with a small putty knife. I
stopped every few inches and wiped the caulk off
the putty knife, otherwise the excess caulk
would get all over the trim.

Then I used a wet paper towel to wipe the
caulked joint, making sure I removed any excess caulk
from the trim and the wall. (This wasn't as easy
as it looks.)

On the inside
corner joint I ran a small bead of caulk.

I scraped off the excess with the putty knife.

Then I
wrapped a wet paper towel around the putty knife
and wiped the corner again, being careful to get
into all of the crevices in the trim profile.

I found it helpful if I shifted the towel often
so I was wiping with a clean area.

These blue paper "shop towels" are really
helpful here, because I can easily see the white
caulking, thereby preventing the goo from
getting all over everything.

While the caulk dried, I returned to the job
of puttying the nail holes.

When the first coat of putty was dry, I sanded the spots with
100 grit sandpaper.

Then I applied a second
coat of putty, because the first coat shrunk and
I could see small dimples at each nail hole.

Sometimes I've been able to
overfill the nail holes and leave a slight mound
of putty. After sanding, this putty spot will often be flush
with the wood, and not need a second coat. But trying to
make that slight mound of putty can be tricky and slow, so I
just scrape of the excess and accept the need for a second
coat.

After I
sanded the second coat of putty, I applied some
masking tape and painted the trim again.

I
applied masking tape to the floor under
the entire length of the baseboard. This tape
had glue on only half of the paper's width.

On the walls, I only applied masking
tape to the areas where I needed to touch up the
paint on the top surface.

After the paint dried, I had to use a small
knife to cut the paint that had bonded to the
masking tape. If I didn't do this, the masking
tape would rip.

The Finished Product:

My
experience is: There are always minor flaws
in any finish carpentry job, but few people
(besides the carpenter) ever notice the flaws.

My philosophy is: If the trim looks good
up close, then it'll look better from
farther away.

The original trim in the upstairs of this 1960's
house was plain, boring "modern baseboard".

I
much prefer the subtle details of this 5¼ inch
traditional baseboard.